TripAdvisor Reviews Universe Central Hotel Ho Chi Minh City

Travel Blogs from Ho Chi Minh City

... past several thatch roofed houses that had a kind of driveway for their small wooden row boats. The bamboo and water coconut forest that surrounded us seemed to be impenetrable. After about a 20 minute ride we arrived at a place where we were given fruit and some tea. At the back of this restaurant were some animals. There was a monkey in a cage (who seemed quite aggressive), a couple of squirrels that were constantly doing circles around their cages, and a dog ...

... and incense sticks to offer to Lord Buddha. Cooked pigs were laid out on tables as gifts to the deity. Thuy and company performed their religious duties, kneeling and praying in front of the many Buddha statues, while Paul and I walked around appraising the kitsch décor and the multitude of visitors.

Next stop was the Khmer Rouge Memorial, situated some distance outside Chau Doc in a village called Ba Chuc. This was a first for me. Here, in 1978, the Khmer Rouge had ...

Yesterday, we went on another organized tour, taking a trip to the Mekong Delta. It's about a couple of hours away from Ho Chi Minh City and some people go for the day while others do longer trips.

Our trip cost the equivalent of $9 CDN each and we definitely did a lot. After the bus ride, we took a boat to one of the islands and went to a cococnut candy factory, which was pretty interesting. Then, ...

... coconut oil, coconut milk, coconut wood and coconut candy. None of the coconut is wasted, even the shell is used to burn on fires. As we left the coconut production room, outside there was a huge python snake in a cabinet which we were able to hold. Quite a few of the group were very apprehensive and stayed well away from the snake, but I held it across my shoulders for quite a while before its head started moving too much and I suddenly handed it back ...

... not looking particularly menacing. And there were far more propaganda posters here, but that might be related to the fact that we arrived on Reunification Day (more on this below).

For all of this, Saigon lacks Hanoi's charm. It is a modern metropolis, not unlike many the world over. And is less unique because of this. The current name of the city is Ho Chi Min, of course, but I cannot really relate to that as I have known it as Saigon all my life. I'll leave the new name ...